Boxes.

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I'm sorry this seems more of a rant than anything else. I put it here though, because I would like to have other's views and opinions on this. If a moderator deems it more appropriate for the Let It All Out section, feel free to move it there.
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So after a conversation with a mate earlier, I started thinking about fashion these days.

Someone said that “goths aren’t normal, cos they don’t wear what stores sell” or something along those lines. So apparently some people feel that people who don’t wear what the regular stores sell, are not normal.
I hate how that idea is created.
Some say stores these days are stupid because they only sell posh/preppy clothes. I have to disagree with that too. It’s all about marketing, I guess. Stores simply sell that which makes the most money.
In general I’ve noticed that the so-called ‘posh and preppy people’ tend to spend way more money on clothes, than people who are considered ‘alternatives’, ‘goths’ or are more about comfort than about looking fashionably. Thus, stores make more money from the ‘posh & preppy people’. Hence why those kind of clothes can be found more in stores.

It annoys me though. You see, I myself am someone who doesn’t care much about looking fashionable or about what’s “in” and what not. Of course I care about looking at least a bit decent when I am going somewhere (not so much in the house or when I’m just going to the grocery store or something lol), but I don’t like all that fuss about what’s ‘hot’ and what ‘not’. *shrugs*
What is most important to me when buying clothes, is that I feel comfortable in it. And it happens to be that I feel far from comfortable in a very short skirt and a ’sexy’ top with lots of cleavage. I’m more in favour of the baggy jeans and a nice t-shirt.
Problem is, though, that (at least around here) it’s very hard to find such clothes, because everything is dominated by the ‘barbie-mode’ as some call it. It’s like, an invasion of ‘preppy & posh’ clothes everywhere I go. I have to travel an hour by train to get to a city where a proper ‘alternative/skate’-store is placed. Even though there are plenty of big cities nearby, I have to go quite far to get to a store where they sell the kind of clothes I like. Where they sell this so-called ‘alternative/skate/goth’ clothing.

This also brings me to the subject of putting people/things in boxes. I don’t like it. Hence why I used the ‘…’ so much. I don’t like it, yet I use it. Because it’s an easy way to describe things. It doesn’t mean I like it though. But I reckon that everyone uses it, even those who don’t admit it. It’s just such an easy way to describe things. It’s to do with laziness, I guess. And with the fact that humanity feels a need to be able to explain/describe everything. It’s human nature to pick the easiest way, a lot of times. After all, if you want to tell someone that “this boy wears those ‘big sportive shoes which you can step in and out without having to tie/untie it’ and those ‘baggy jeans with the crotch hanging very low’ and those shirts with either bandnames and logos on it, or funny quotes/messages and he likes wristbands and he’s always going around on his skateboard with loud rock-music blasting through his headphones”, isn’t it easier to put him in the stereotype box “skater” which we created?
Human beings are lazy by nature, which is one of the reasons for the boxes.
Someone who wears dark clothes and dark make-up is quickly considered “goth”.
Someone who harms themselves and doesn’t hide it is quickly considered “emo”.
Someone who wears baggy clothes and band-shirts and such is quickly considered “skater” or “alternative”.
Someone who wears short skirts and revealing tops is quickly considered “preppy”.

And those aren’t even one-fifth of all the boxes we’ve created.
Why are we so lazy? Why do we feel the need to categorise and ‘name’ EVERYTHING?

There's nothing wrong with naming anything at all, it's the narrow associations we place on each name that is the true limitation to really knowing people.
Funnily enough every time this issue comes up, I remember a goth guy I used to talk to who hated the fact that some kids who listen to goth music, write gothic/dark poetry, stick to dark colors on their clothes and makeup refuse to say they're goth because they "dont want to be labeled". If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then you better not call it a duck, or else you are limiting its individuality.